Nitish: Riots orchestrated

Patna: With dust settling on communal disturbances in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday rejected charges of administrative laxity and vented spleen against Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the BJP, vowing to expose those who had "orchestrated" the riots.

The JD(U) leader also lambasted AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, calling him an "agent" of the BJP.

He was replying to queries from journalists on the sidelines of a function organised on the occasion of birth anniversary of former deputy prime minister and dalit stalwart Babu Jagjeevan Ram.

Kumar's remarks come a day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that the BJP was bringing in goons to create riots in her state.

The Bihar CM taunted Shah over the much-publicised "rioters will be hung upside down if BJP comes to power in Bihar" remark at a rally in Nawada district on Sunday, and reminded him of riots "in 2017 when our government had to arrest the son of a BJP leader".

The allusion was to the riots that broke out during Ram Navami, incidentally in 2018 and not 2017, at Bhagalpur. Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey's son Arijit Shashwat was named among the key accused in the case.